Okay, so my birthday was on the twenty-first...and except that I was ill I just got....

Name:

THE ERSKINE METHOD - for drumset (Book and DVD)

Rating:

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Publisher:

Alfred

Target Level:

Every Drummer - from beginner to advanced

Great book and great DVD!! This book covers some pages with basic techniques, some important rudiments, tips for playing with hands a feet, warming up. This is the minority though.
Since we know that Peter is a versatile drummer who has worked with a lot of musicians and styles over the years the book is more than a "Jazz school". It`s divided into straight and swung. It deals with a lot of straight grooves and even more with the swing, somping excercices, coordination excercices, fill-in ideas, solo ideas, there`s an easy to understand brush part and being dedicated to Elvin Jones there will be some Elvin-ish ideas, too.
There are practice ideas, transcriptions of the play-alongs, not just of the drums, also of the other instruments which I find very nice. It makes the tune clearer and easier to understand this way.
Okay okay, you may think that it`s a drum school like anything else but the truly nice thing about it is the educational value, the tips, experiments and personal philosophies. Peter involves his experience into the book. That`s wonderful!

The DVD is amazing! Peter is an awesome teacher and player, he really encourages me, motivates, makes me wanna play! He explains things covered in the book, plays with the band in various set-ups (piano trio, Alan Pasqua(p), Dave Carpenter(b)...or sax trio with Bob Sheppard(sax) or quartet). In the bonus section Bob, Dave, Alan and finally Peter talk about things they look for in a drummer. There is an example how NOT to play a ballad...and much more.
PLUS, there are 11 play-alongs, with and without drums. Original tunes, high quality...beautiful.